


An incomplete list of people lost in the lonely

by Kaladin_x_happiness



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Abandonment, An exploration of the kind of people who find themselves lonely, Episode 170 chewed me up and spit me out so let’s have some more sadness I guess, Gen, Isolation, No beta we die like archival assistants, mentions of possible child abuse, the Lonely is terrifying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-04
Updated: 2020-06-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:28:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24545416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaladin_x_happiness/pseuds/Kaladin_x_happiness
Summary: 5 people lost in the lonely, and 1 person who escaped it.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18





	An incomplete list of people lost in the lonely

**Author's Note:**

> So... episode 170, anyone?

1.

Diane was a hiker. The mountains called to her as if her bones belonged among the rocks, like the iron in her blood had been shaped by the exact same forces as those that created the Appalachian Range, or perhaps the green of the trees had been the source of the shade of her eyes. She belonged there, and she spent all her time going up and down and up and down those steep trails. At first she hiked with friends. They would laugh and joke, and share trail snacks. But one by one, Diane found that her friends could not keep up with her. She hiked nearly every week; many of her friends went maybe once a summer. She began to resent their slowness and the way they didn’t hear the same song she did in the wind. Soon, she began to hike alone.

Before long that was her favorite way to hike. Only her and the mountains, the wind and the rocks and the trees. She sought out the lesser-known trails, keeping the beauty of the world to herself.

When the world ended, she found herself alone on a mountaintop, and she faded away into the fog.

2.

Ellen liked to pretend that she lived in the library. The shelves were so tall above her head, and they were so full of books. She would pretend that the beanbag in the back was her bed, and that the toy kitchen in the kid’s section was real and full of food. It was a place that she could be when her parents were fighting and she didn’t want to go home. Friends were forbidden to her, but books were full of friends. She would grab a big stack of books, retreat to the bean bag, and curl up there until the sun set and the librarian sent her home. Sometimes she didn’t speak to another soul from the last school bell to the end of the day, but she always had friends within her books.

When the world ended, little Ellen found herself in an empty library, and all the pages were blank.

3.

David had just graduated college and moved to New York City. He’d always dreamed of escaping his tiny little hometown, wishing for the hustle and bustle and the lights and the people of a big city. He found them quite disappointing. Between high rent and low wages, he found himself working three jobs, and that drained him of all his energy. He didn’t like his coworkers. He didn’t have money for the well-known activities. He didn’t have the energy for dating. He was finally surrounded by people for the first time in his life, and he was the loneliest he’d ever been. On Sunday nights he would skype his mother and tell her all about the highlights of the city, every word a lie.

When the world ended, David found himself in his apartment all alone, with nobody answering the phone.

4.

Patricia attended her last funeral three months before the apocalypse. She’d lost her family long ago, and had no children to speak of. Now she was burying her partner of 40 years, her wife of 2, the last of her friends to succumb to age. She was put in a nursing home, the type that is a last resort for those of no money. It was the type that smelled of cleaner and ammonia and was always either too cold or too warm. Nobody came to visit her. There was nobody left to come.

When the world ended, Patricia barely noticed that the nurses no longer came.

5.

Albert had just finalized his divorce. He’d fought to keep his wife, fought to earn her love, fought to stay connected to his kids. He lost. His ex-wife had cried crocodile tears to the court, spilling lies about his aloofness and abuse. He knew she’d paid her friends to testify against him. He loved her and he always had; their children were the highlight of his life and he tried his best to be the father they deserved (and he’d never had). He’d broken his own cycle of abuse, and this slander hurt him almost as much as the fact that she wanted to leave in the first place.

He’d lost the case.

He was forbidden from seeing the children, under threat of jail if he so much as sent a letter. So he moved away, to a little apartment the next town over with too few rooms and too few toys and too much silence. 

When the world ended, his children’s faces vanished from their photos.

  
  


+1.

Martin was fighting. He had so much pain in his soul, and the fog called to him. It promised to erase the pain. It promised to soothe his aches. It promised to melt all his bad feelings until they faded into the mist. Until he faded into the mist.

No. _No._ He didn’t belong here. He was Martin. His pain was his own. He didn’t belong here. He was Martin. He wanted to _feel. He didn’t belong here._ _He was Martin_ -

Jon appeared from the fog, and Martin melted into his arms.    
  


He belonged here.

He belonged here.


End file.
